A landlady has spoken of her shock after police confirmed the death of a man on Shirley Road is now being treated as murder.

The 52-year-old victim died last month outside Freemantle United Reformed Church.

His death was originally treated as ‘unexplained but not suspicious’.

However, one month on, police arrested a 46-year-old man on suspicion of murder.

Daily Echo:

Mary Thornton-Smith, owner of The Witch’s Brew on Shirley Road described the news as 'shocking'.

She said: “The incident took place a stone’s throw away from my pub.

“There’s a growing concern from people in the area that crime – particularly knife crime is on the rise, it’s shocking.

“It’s a very big worry, I won’t go out in the evening.

“It’s damaging as you don’t know what’s going to happen, it’s very unsavoury.”

READ MORE: Man pronounced dead at the scene after incident in Shirley

Daily Echo:

Ms Thornton-Smith, 60, confirmed that police officers had asked to view her pub's CCTV as part of the investigation – though footage is wiped every 28 days, with the incident occurring three days prior, on August 19. 

The pub owner said: “It’s always been my policy to auto-delete CCTV after 28 days.

“I only have the camera filming within the pub’s boundary – it doesn’t look out onto the road – I can’t do the police's job for them.”

She added: “I’m doing all I can to look after people but I’m 60 and shouldn’t have to wear a cape all the time!

“I always say to customers ‘make sure you get home safely’, but you shouldn’t have to live in a world where you say that."

She added: “Shirley has a densely populated community and it’s vulnerable.

“There’s a large school on Shirley Road – St Mark’s C of E School – parents and children are in and out of there all the time and the community needs to be a safe place.”

A spokesperson for Hampshire Police said: “We can confirm that a murder investigation has been launched following the death of a 52-year-old man in Southampton in August.

“Following new information which has come to light, we have now arrested a 46-year-old man from Southampton on suspicion of murder in connection with this incident.”